Last night, a full Gelredome in Arnhem commemorated the death of Henk de Roo during the last Mega Pirate Festival of the year. ‘Boer Harms’, the face of The Dutch Boys, died on Thursday evening at the age of 69.
Mooi Wark was one of the bands that performed during the festival in Arnhem. They recently recorded the song with De Roo I’ll never be drunk again on. That song came out on Friday. “We had a release with Boer Harms yesterday (Friday, ed.), but Henk thought differently about it,” said guitarist William Bossong on stage, before the band plays the new single. “This is a tribute. Henk has the last word, then he deserves a standing ovation.”
That ovation came. More than 30,000 spectators gave a thunderous applause afterwards. This actually came full circle for Henk de Roo, since it became known at the beginning of October that he was suffering from esophageal cancer. In mid-October he was on stage for one of the last times, at the Mega Pirate Festival in his ‘own’ Klazienaveen.
Henk de Roo broke through in music in the early 1980s with Cor Maatje and Jans Hoogeveen as The Dutch Boys. They became famous thanks to the song Eppobut became their biggest hit Farmer Harms. De Roo played the role of Farmer Harms by riding a tractor while wearing his characteristic yellow earplugs.
In 1988 De Roo parted ways with The Dutch Boys, but the band stopped in the 1990s. But in 2019 there was a revival. The Dutch Boys returned, in the original line-up. In recent years, the band members have been welcome guests at various pirate festivals throughout the country.